116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Home / News / Education / Higher Ed
News Track: New Iowa State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab enters second phase
$141.5M project aims to keep Iowa at forefront of animal, public health issues
Vanessa Miller
Apr. 21, 2024 6:00 am, Updated: Apr. 22, 2024 8:31 am
Six years since leaders of Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine warned state lawmakers that “we won’t get accredited again” without building — or at least making progress toward — a new stand-alone Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, the state and university have collaborated to do just that.
Background
In 2018, ISU pitched a $124 million, 150,000-square-foot project to lawmakers, asking them to appropriate $100 million of it. But when lawmakers denied the full request — funding $63.5 million at the time — ISU split the building project into two phases.
The diagnostic lab helps support the state’s animal agriculture's ability to sell animals and animal products like meat, milk and eggs globally. And in animal health emergencies — like bird flu — its research and findings become indispensable.
Crews began building the first phase in March 2021 — leaving ISU to cover the remaining $11.5 million of phase one with donations and university funds.
ISU now has completed the $75 million, 90,000-square-foot first phase of a new lab. And in March, it started work on a $66.5 million, 78,500-square-foot second phase.
The combined phases total $141.5 million and 168,500 square feet — more than what first was sought in 2018.
What’s happened since
For the second phase — on which construction began March 27, with expectations of completion in fall 2026 — the state appropriated $18 million, plus another $40 million from Iowa’s American Rescue Plan Act distribution — leaving the remaining $8.5 million to ISU donations and university funds.
In total, the state allocated $121.5 million for the full project — which ISU leaders said will support the state’s $32.5 billion animal agriculture industry and sustain it as a national and global leader in “advancing animal health, food safety and public health.”
“The lab is consistently at the forefront of new and emerging health issues — diagnosing diseases, developing vaccine, and mitigating the impact on animals and the connection to food safety,” ISU President Wendy Wintersteen said at a recent event celebrating both the debut of phase I and groundbreaking of phase II for the only full-service and fully-accredited lab of its kind in Iowa.
'50-year upgrade’
ISU first occupied its lab facilities in 1976, when the lab had 10 faculty members and 20 staff managing 15,000 cases annually and 35,000 individual tests, according to Howard Hill — a former ISU faculty member of 20 years, current Iowa Pork Producers Association member and past president of the National Pork Producers Council board of directors.
Today, those numbers have multiplied to 30 faculty and 150 staff handling 125,000 cases annually and conducting 1.6 million tests.
“The VDL has continued to evolve from good to great to world-class,” Hill said at the recent groundbreaking. “And with this new facility it has evolved to what I’m going to refer to as ‘wow.’ Phase II, when completed, will be ‘wow 2.0’.”
The upgrade was imperative, according to ISU lab director Rodger Main, among university leaders who six years ago shared ominous news that the American Association of Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Diagnosticians likely wouldn’t accredit the lab again without updated facilities.
“The existing facilities — as it relates to today’s standards for biosecurity, biocontainment and biosafety — are actually quite outdated,” Main said of the need for a “50-year upgrade.”
Reporting that the lab has expanded its impact from regionally to nationally to globally, Main said the facility annually boasts the largest food animal caseload in the United States, serving the most advanced livestock and poultry producers in the world.
“It’s very much a significant economic infrastructure investment for our state of Iowa,” Main said at the phase I dedication and phase II groundbreaking.
Research, innovation
Breaking down differences between phase I and II, Main said the first is the front half of the lab — “where everything is received.”
“Most of the higher-end analytical testing is in phase II,” he said.
Highlighting other aspects of the lab’s mission, ISU Veterinary Medicine Dean Daniel Grooms stressed the research and educational aspects involved.
“In addition to serving Iowa’s animal agriculture and helping protect the global food supply through world-class diagnostic services, the VDL is also a hub of innovation,” he said. “What separates Iowa State’s VDL from most others is our advancement around animal diagnostic medicine, whether it is developing a new diagnostic test or discovering a novel pathogen.”
By way of example, Grooms said, the ISU lab in 2013 was first to identify the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus outbreak, pinpoint its origin and develop control strategies. More recently, he said, lab researchers helped identify highly pathogenic bird flu as the illness infecting dairy herds in six states. It’s the first known cases of the virus in cattle.
"I can't overemphasize how important the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab is to our farm,” said Mike Paustian, who raises hogs in Eastern Iowa. “If we didn't have the resources at the VDL to understand what's going on in our herd, I don't think raising pigs would be nearly as fun or profitable. We'd constantly be chasing our tails.”
Iowa State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab phases
Phase 1
Total cost: $75 million
Funding sources: $63.5 million from state (Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund); $11.5 million donations/university funds
When construction began: March 2021
Timeline: Completed in fall 2023
Square footage: 90,000 square feet of program space
Phase 2
Total cost: $66.5 million
Funding sources: $18 million from state (Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund); $40 million from federal government (American Rescue Plan Act); $8.5 million donations/university funds
When construction began: March 27
Timeline: Completion expected fall 2026
Square footage: 78,500 square feet of program space
Source: Iowa State University
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com